Lecture 2: The importance of the early environment

Preventing Epidemic Infections

• Babies below 9 months of age were kept in separate cubicles with brief, hurried contacts with adults to prevent epidemic infections.

Effects of Psychological Deprivation in Infancy

• Goldfarb (1945) compared early (3 years) placement of children in foster homes from orphanages and found that early placement resulted in a mean IQ of 95, while late placement resulted in a mean IQ of 72.
• Goldfarb concluded that institutional effects lasting 3 years or more have long-lasting and probably irreversible effects.
• Dennis (1973) noted that the greater the age of adoption, the lower the eventual IQ attained.

Characteristics of Institutionally Deprived Children

• Cognitive disabilities:
• Lower ability to conceptualize
• Poorer speech development
• Inability to concentrate
• Poorer school achievement
• Social-emotional disabilities:
• Social immaturity
• Aggressiveness
• Insatiable for affection but unable to form secure bonds
• Inability to adhere to rules and failure to show guilt when breaking rules

English/Romanian Adoption Study

• Conditions in Romanian orphanages:
• Children were confined to cots with few toys or playthings
• Little talk from caregivers and no personalized caregiving
• Variable and sometimes harsh physical environments
• Purpose of the study: To examine recovery in orphans following removal from impoverished circumstances and determine if initial deficits were caused by early impoverishment.
• Sample:
• 111 children from Romania adopted into English families before the age of 2 years
• 52 adoptees from within England
• Follow-up:
• Cognitive assessment at 6 years: 15% of Romanian adoptees had cognitive impairment compared to 2% of within UK adoptees
• Linear association of impairment with duration of institutional care
• Head circumference was a major correlate with cognitive functioning
• Follow-up in young adulthood: Romanian adoptees adopted before 6 months had outcomes similar to UK adoptee controls, while those adopted after 6 months had higher rates of cognitive impairment, autism-spectrum disorder, ADHD symptoms, and lower self-reported emotional well-being.

Conclusions from Orphanage Studies

• Children who spent the first period of life in deprived environments suffer lasting cognitive and social-emotional deficits.
• The effects of deprivation can be overcome by a move to a stimulating environment.
• The degree to which deficits can be overcome is related to the period of time spent in the deprived environment.

Head-Start Studies

• Woodhead (1985): Long-term effects of school readiness program showed no lasting IQ gains but significantly fewer referrals for "special education" programs and increased likelihood of finishing high school.
• Perry Preschool Program: No permanent IQ gains but better social competence.
• More recent Head Start programs:
• Early Head Start began in 1995, serving low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers up to 3 years of age.
• Outcomes at 3 years: EHS children showed better cognitive and language skills, displayed higher emotional engagement, and were less aggressive; EHS parents were more emotionally supportive, provided more language and learning stimulation, read more to children, and spanked less.

The Abecedarian Project

• Features of the approach:
• Began early in infancy
• Random assignment of infants from low-income families to intervention and control conditions
• No initial differences on infant mental and motor tests
• Treated children had 5 years of exposure to early education in a high-quality child-care setting
• Individualized programs with emphasis on language
• Results:
• At 4 years: Benefits in language, social interactions, and IQ
• At 12, 15, 21 years: Benefits in IQ, reading, and math
• Enhanced language skills a major factor in enhancing cognitive skills
• At 21 years: Intervention group had higher education level and lower unemployment